Furrow Irrigated Long-Term No-Till and Conventional-Till Soil Evaluation in the Mid-South USA

Authors: Mubvumba, Partson; Tyler, Heather; Anapalli, Saseendran; PINNAMANENI, SRINIVASA - Colorado State University; Reddy, Krishna

Submitted to: Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/29/2025
Publication Date: 2/28/2025
Citation: Mubvumba, P., Tyler, H.L., Anapalli, S.S., Pinnamaneni, S., Reddy, K.N. 2025. Furrow Irrigated Long-Term No-Till and Conventional-Till Soil Evaluation in the Mid-South USA. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment. Volume 18: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/11786221251320712.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/11786221251320712

Interpretive Summary: Tillage is critical in land and seedbed preparation, ridge making, furrow maintenance, and weed control. No-till practice enhances soil health, however, may limit nutrient mixing and re-distribution within the soil for plant uptake and is vulnerable to soil compaction impacting yield returns. This study compared adopting a long-term NT to the conventional tillage prevalent in the Lower Mississippi Delta region of the Mid-South USA. Although conventional tillage, initially increased soil nutrients (total nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, soil organic matter, and zinc), no-till showed an increase in nutrients after four years of the experiment, suggesting possible nutrient loss to the environment due to conventional tillage. There were no differences in soil structure stability and soybean yields. No-till sequestered carbon, and enhanced soil organic matter content, suggesting that no-till practice conserves resources more than conventional tillage.

Technical Abstract: Tillage helps in land and seedbed preparation, ridge making, furrow maintenance, and weed control, but harmful to sustainable crop production and the environment. No-till (NT) practice enhances soil health, however, may result in soil compaction, increased weed pressure, stratification, and immobilization of nutrients impacting yield returns. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of adopting a long-term NT compared to the conventional tillage (CT) prevalent in the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) region of the Mid-South USA. Although CT initially displayed higher soil total nitrogen (STN), phosphorus, potassium, organic sulfur (OS), soil organic matter (SOM), and zinc than NT, the latter increased STN, SOM, OS, magnesium, calcium, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and stored soil water compared to the former after four years of soybean production following 11 years under corn. NT and CT had no significant differences in enzyme activities, wet aggregate stability, and soybean yields. The loss in nutrients observed under CT in the top 10 cm is a manifestation of the impact of disturbing the surface soil and exposing it to denudation processes and consequent nutrient losses. NT sequestered carbon, and enhanced SOM and CEC. These results suggest that NT adoption coupled with shallow occasional furrow maintenance operations is a viable conservation practice under furrow irrigation.